Ask CPCR: How Much RAM Do You Need?

For those new to buying or building PCs, one of the most common questions is “How much RAM do I need?“. While the best answer to this question really depends on what you plan on doing with your PC, there are some general guidelines you can follow in order to get a good estimate on how much RAM is optimal.

How is RAM Used in Computers

Before we decide how much RAM is needed for your new PC, it’s important to first understand how RAM is actually used in it. RAM, which is often also referred to as system memory, is an acronym for Random Access Memory. While it would take quite a long time to fully explain all the cases of how RAM is used in [...]

Read More

April 26, 2018

Samsung 970 EVO Review (500GB)

The New M.2 NVMe Price/Performance Champ

Nearly two years ago, Samsung launched their Samsung 960 PRO and 960 EVO to major fanfare. These two juggernaut introductions in addition to their enterprise cousins further established Samsung’s position as the undisputed leader in M.2 form-factor NVMe SSDs. At the time, the industry had been facing a massive shortage of NAND which slowed down product introductions across the board, but as NAND supply has finally begun stabilizing, companies are now finally introducing some new products to once again reignite demand.

Recently, Samsung launched the Samsung 970 EVO and the Samsung 970 PRO which will replace the aging Samsung 960 [...]

Read More

January 24, 2018

AVADirect X370 Quiet Gaming PC Review

Quiet and Beautiful

AVADirect wasn’t really a systems builder on our radar until late last year when we reviewed their Avant Mini Cube Gaming PC. After extensive testing, we found that the system was well configured, well built, and well priced, quickly propelling AVADirect to the top as one of our favorite custom PC builders.

Recently, AVADirect sent us another one of the systems in their lineup, the AVADirect X370 Quiet Gaming PC, which as its name implies is AVADirect’s quiet gaming PC offering based on AMD’s X370 Ryzen platform.

Nvidia to Release GTX 1060 with 5GB Memory

Rumors are abound that Nvidia may be gearing up to release a variant of the GeForce GTX 1060 with 5GB GDDR5 of memory. This new card will be strictly targeted towards the Chinese PC cafe market.

The new variant is rumored to feature a new GP106-350 GPU core. It features the same 1,280 CUDA cores as the GP106-400 in the GTX 1060 6GB, but will feature a narrower 160 bit memory bus which will help reduce cost.

In addition to shaving off 1GB of memory, the card is also rumored to use less robust packaging to save cost. This won’t matter though, since this card is targeted towards internet cafes rather than off the shelf retail. No word on pricing or [...]

Read More

December 20, 2017

Samsung Mass Producing 2nd Gen 10nm-Class 8Gb DDR4 DRAM

Samsung has begun mass producing their 2nd Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 DRAM. According to the announcement, the new Samsung 2nd Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 features speeds up to 3,600 Mbps per pin, which provides around 10% improved performance and 15% improved power efficiency compared to 1st Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4.

In order to achieve the improved performance and power efficiency, Samsung developed a new high-sensitivity cell data sensing system which allows a more accurate determination of data stored within a data cell along with a unique “air spacer” design which helps dramatically decrease parasitic capacitance.

“By developing [...]

Read More

December 26, 2017

The Best Black Friday 2017 Deals [Expired]

For all the readers living in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you get all the food, drink and of course plenty of Black Friday shopping after!

Today and for the next 48 hours, we’ll be scouring the internet for the best Black Friday deals on technology, computer hardware, and other generally awesome deals you may want to check out. We’ll keep this post updated with all the latest deals, so check back often!

AORUS X9 Gaming Laptop Packs Two GTX 1070s

The Aorus X9 is designed for gamers looking to play at QHD/UHD resolutions and is more than VR ready. Complimenting the dual GTX 1070s is an Intel Core i7-7820HK quad-core CPU. The CPU is unlocked, meaning users can overclock it on their own.

Toshiba Reportedly Shut Down NAND Production for 3-6 Weeks Due to Hacking

Toshiba just can’t seem to catch a break. In a recent report from Digitimes, its sources within the channel reveal that Toshiba has suffered a massive ransomware attack on its network, forcing the company to shut down its NAND memory production for 3-6 weeks.

According to the article, Toshiba has already resumed NAND production however, the damage has already been done. Toshiba’s NAND production has already been cut by nearly 100,000 wafers. NAND prices were previously expected to drop in the 4Q2017 as supply and demand reach equilibrium however, the latest revelation may delay this until next year.

While much of this is fairly bad news for those [...]

Read More

October 14, 2017

MSI Releases Small Form Factor Vortex G25 Gaming Desktop

MSI recently announced the Vortex G25, a small yet powerful gaming PC.

The MSI Vortex G25 is absolutely tiny. It’s slim build is almost reminiscent of a blade server. When stood up vertically, it takes up less space than a gaming console. It’s so compact, in fact, that it can be mounted on a VESA monitor mount. At just 5.51lbs, it won’t rip your monitor apart, either.

The Vortex G25 is outfitted with Intel’s 10th generation “Coffee Lake” CPUs. Users can choose from the Core i7-8700 or the Core i5-8400. Graphics options include either an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or a GeForce GTX 1060. All [...]

Read More

September 27, 2017

Mozilla Launches Firefox Quantum Beta, Boosts Performance by 2x

Mozilla has just unleashed a massive update to its Firefox browser making it so fast that they’re calling it Firefox Quantum.

Firefox Quantum started as a perpetual project in October 2016 with the goal of developing a better web engine for today’s web content. The web is no longer a collection of static pages, and is now driven by many types of webapps. To run these apps optimally, Quantum takes advantage of the multi-thread, multi-core processors found in most of today’s machines. Instead of letting one core handling the command stream for the entire browser, the engine will intelligently distribute the workload across multiple threads and the GPU. [...]